Persona 5, Persona 4 remake for Vita, and a Persona 4 2D fighter in the works

First off, portable remakes of Persona games are nothing new, and this time it’s P4‘s turn to get the treatment with Persona 4: The Golden. To be released in Japan for the upcoming Vita in 2012, it will have a rash of new content to entice both those that have played the game and anyone that may have skipped over it initially. The Golden will have a new character named Mary, 50 percent more voice acting than the PS2 original, and a light multiplayer element that allows players to call on others when they’re close to dying in a dungeon.

In much more surprising P4 news, Atlus also announced the existence of Persona 4: The Ultimate In Mayonaka Arena, a 2D fighting game. There’s no need to worry about how the game will play, as it’s being spearheaded by Arc System Works, the studio responsible for BlazBlue and Guilty Gear. Although it’s said to take two months after P4, the game will have characters from both P3 and P4. The game is slated for release in Japanese arcades Spring 2012, with a downloadable PS3 and Xbox 360 release later that summer (though so far this also applies only to Japan).

Finally, there’s some news on the next mainline entry in the series, Persona 5. Nothing concrete, but it seems that basic preparations for the game have been completed, with the heavy lifting all set to begin. The usual names are on-board, including Katsura Hashino as director, Shigenori Soejima as character designer, and Shouji Meguro as composer.